Joe Girardi is sitting with his beautiful wife Kim on a couch in the lobby of a midtown hotel. On this morning of a getaway weekend from their home in Florida, they are celebrating the fact Girardi slept through the night, as he notes, “For the first time in months.”
No, Girardi has not been fretting over his firing by the Marlins. Joe and Kim’s youngest, Lena, is five months old and teething, and Joe gets up every night with his daughter.
Girardi is not looking back in anger, but rather looking forward to his next challenge – making the YES Yankees broadcast booth an educational and entertaining tool for the viewer.
He is Manager of the Year with no managing job. “It’s mind-boggling,” he admits. “The way I look at it is this is God’s plan. It’s too hard for me to comprehend.”
Life goes on, especially when you have three children ranging from five months to seven years old. Girardi has learned much about himself as a result of his one year at the helm of the young Marlins.
“Joe Torre reminded me often during last year that there is no bad experience,” he says. “All experiences you learn from.”
Only 42, Girardi will get another shot to manage in the majors. In fact, his next job could be with the Yankees.
“Who wouldn’t want to manage the Yankees?” Girardi answers when I ask him the loaded question: Would he someday like to manage in the Bronx?
“You have all the resources in the world, you have a great club every year, you have an owner that wants to win as bad as any owner in sports, great fans, four million people coming to the games. Who wouldn’t want to manage the Yankees?” he says enthusiastically. “But to me it’s Joe’s job and when Joe decides he doesn’t want to manage, he doesn’t want to manage. But I don’t really think about it.”
His chiseled face then grows even more serious. “I don’t want someone to leave or get fired,” he says, “because I know what that feels like.”
These are not well-crafted public relations statements from Girardi, who was Torre’s bench coach in 2005. They come from the heart. Anyway, Kim points out, her husband never thinks more than two weeks ahead in his life.
“Managing again will happen when it happens,” he says. “It might be my son’s Little League team.”
Now that’s real pressure. For now, Girardi will continue to help coach his local high school, where he has been working with the catchers, and work for YES.
To Girardi, Torre is not only a close friend, but he exemplifies what a manager is all about. Throughout the turmoil of last season, Torre was only a phone call away whenever Girardi needed guidance.
“I would call Joe every two weeks,” Girardi says. “When we played the Yankees I went in to see him and he said, ‘You can’t ask me for advice the next three days.'”
What makes Torre such a great leader?
“Joe has the ability to make you feel like everything is going to be all right, no matter what happens,” Girardi explains. “And that is why, I think, he has been so good for the Yankees because there are so many outside pressures here. No matter what your role is on the team, Joe has a way of making you feel important.”
Girardi won three World Series rings with Torre and the Yankees. “Those were emotional days, great days,” he says. That World Series photo of Girardi running out to celebrate with John Wetteland, who had all four saves in the 1996 Series, is a classic.
“You know, I never used to think of myself as an emotional person,” Girardi says, “but I am. You start thinking about the wonderful times that group had in New York, a special group of guys. Guys who were very determined and guys who didn’t lose focus.”
The Yankees have not won a World Series since 2000, and their focus has become blurred in recent years. The last two years they could not fight past the first round of the playoffs, and have lost seven of their last 10 postseason games.
No one exemplifies that postseason failure more than Alex Rodriguez, who has five hits over his last 46 postseason at-bats and was 0-for-10 in the three straight losses to the Tigers in the ALDS, prompting Torre to drop A-Rod to eighth in the order for the final game of the series.
Girardi says A-Rod’s struggles come back to the “pressure he puts on himself. He expects himself to be perfect,” Girardi says, adding that no one can succeed under such pressure.
“It’s amazing to me that he’s a guy that will hit .290 with 45 homers and 120 ribbies and people will say he had a bad year,” Girardi says with a smile. “That was a career for me.”
He also says winning a championship doesn’t fall solely on one player. “The bottom line is that it comes down to pitching and defense,” he says. “I like bringing Andy [Pettitte] back. Andy knows how to pitch here. He knows the routine and that’s more than half the battle. I think they tried to strengthen their bullpen and the stockpiling of young arms will pay dividends. I think they made themselves better. To me, you have to have a good mixture of youth.
“That was one of the things I thought the teams in the ’90s had. They had the energy of the Jeters and Riveras and the Pettittes. Energy is important because it is a grind.”
Girardi holds a degree from Northwestern in industrial engineering, a practical background for a manager. “There’s a lot of problem-solving, making systems run better,” he explains. “You try to use that everywhere in life.”
He worked for YES in 2004 and won an Emmy. He says last year’s experience will make him an even better analyst. “I have a whole different perspective in the booth now,” says Girardi, who will also host a show with John Flaherty called “Behind The Plate,” two catchers revealing the secrets and strategy of the game. “You understand that sometimes managers don’t let on that their hands are tied or that they don’t want to use this guy today because something is going on his life. I have a lot more respect for managers now.
“I believe I’ll manage again,” Girardi says with confidence. “When it happens, it happens.”
When it does, expect Joe Girardi to have great success again – and this time keep his job.